Assad’s cousin was arrest by al-Farouq brigade of the Free Syrian Army (FSA), Sheikh Adnan Al Arour, a Sunni Muslim preacher and a major Salafist leader in Syria, announced on his Twitter account Sunday.

“Housam al-Assad, the cousin of dog Bashar has been captured by al-Farouq Brigade and brought him in like a pig, so that you know, oh Russia and Iran who the Syrian people are,” Sheikh Arour said.

Rebels captured Khirbat al-Joz in the northwest province of Idlib near the border after a fierce battle in which 25 troops and three insurgents were killed, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Nearly 80 percent of towns and villages along the Turkish border are outside the control of Damascus, according to the group.

AFP correspondent have passed through large swathes of territory in the Idlib and Aleppo provinces of northern Syria that have fallen outside government control, with residents managing their own affairs.

Four civilians, including a woman, and six rebels were killed in the Houla region of the central province of Homs in clashes and shelling by regime forces, the Britain-based Observatory said.

What do you think of this FSA conquest? Does the capture of Assad's cousin leave the opposition closer to their target of toppling the beleaguered leader?